March 25, 2025

It has been a very eventful week in the efforts to prevent a closure at Crozer-Chester Medical Center with a lot of roller coasters and a lot of press coverage. Last Wednesday, the bankruptcy judge in Texas held a status hearing on the situation at Crozer because payroll was only covered through March 21. Before that hearing, my colleagues and I sent a letter to the judge explaining why we were fighting so hard to prevent a closure after the judge asked for information at a previous hearing about Delaware County's population and how many hospitals would be left to serve our County if the Crozer system closed and none of the lawyers in her courtroom could give her any answers. One of them even tried to Google stats about Delco from the courtroom. So we, as elected officials who represent Delco at the state and County level, submitted this letter to the judge so she could have a true picture of the needs of the people we serve.  During last Wednesday’s status hearing, both Prospect and the Attorney General's office reported progress towards a possible Asset Purchase Agreement with a reputable nonprofit system, and the hearing ended on a hopeful tone. What was said in the courtroom matched what I had heard from the Attorney General’s office and Governor’s office in a briefing earlier that day.

The situation went south a few hours later. Later that night, we learned that on the very same day, a board member and donor of the Foundation for Delaware County had sued the foundation to prevent any more money from going to Crozer’s owner, Prospect Medical Holdings, or any related entity for the “operation of any hospital or hospital services.” A Delaware County judge issued an injunction within a few hours and I heard from multiple sources that the possible Asset Purchase Agreement was put in jeopardy. Just before midnight, the Patient Care Ombudsman (appointed by the bankruptcy court to advocate for the needs of patients) filed an emergency motion of her own asking the Judge in Texas to call an Emergency Status hearing because she was afraid that closure was imminent. That Emergency Status hearing took place on Thursday at noon and the judge was clearly angry that the Foundation for Delaware County had not disclosed the lawsuit and pending injunction during the hearing the previous day. She also alluded to possible future clawbacks to rectify the “sins of the past,” which I hope means accountability for all the money that Prospect drained out of the system through bad real estate deals to pay themselves dividends. The judge ordered all parties to an in-person meeting in a last-ditch effort to prevent a closure. That meeting took place in Harrisburg on Friday and both the Attorney General’s Office and Foundation for Delaware County issued press releases afterwards to report positive progress. The injunction on funding was dissolved that day at the request of the Foundation for Delaware County and they committed to investing an additional $13M to keep the hospitals open in the short-term while everyone works on a long-term solution (on top of the $7M they invested to make the last payroll). Here are the statements issued by the Attorney General and The Foundation for Delaware County following Friday’s meeting.  

Everyone was back in court again yesterday and we heard reports from Prospect, the Attorney General’s office and the Foundation for Delaware County about positive steps towards a long-term solution for Crozer Health, with Penn Medicine playing a role alongside Delaware County and other local health systems. There is another status hearing tomorrow in Texas and Prospect said they could bring an Asset Purchase Agreement to the judge for approval as soon as April 1st. I want to be clear that there are still many moving parts and the sale deal is not yet final, but I heard more hope over the past week than I have in a long time. I’m grateful that Delaware County, the Attorney General’s Office, the Governor’s Office and the Foundation for Delaware County are all working hard to get this done.

For a summary of where things are as of today, ready this: Delaware County and UPenn working on deal to save bankrupt Crozer hospitals.